Hyperion Honor
by Surifox1
Summary: Borderlands AU. Gaige wins the science fair and doesn't kill Marcy Holloway.
1. Blue Ribbons

_Sometimes, a single turn of events can change the flow of history_

Gaige sat behind her assigned table at the planet-wide science fair. She eagerly awaited her turn to dazzle the judges with the technological wonder she created. She looked to her left to see her classmate, Marcy Holloway, show off her pathetic excuse for a robot. It could barely balance itself on its own two legs and emitted an annoying high pitched whine that gave Gaige a headache. She laughed to herself and turned her head to her right. Her dad was watching from the sidelines. He looked back at her and gave her a thumbs up. She couldn't help but grin. She was glad that her dad could be there to see her win first place and show up her ditsy classmate. He would be so proud of her and they would probably have some kind of party to celebrate. Soon. Very soon.

Gaige heard footsteps approaching her and quickly turned to face the noise. Two snooty men and one stuffy woman looked down on her where she sat. She couldn't help but grin nervously.

The three judges looked across her empty table as though they were looking for something until one finally spoke up and said, "Miss Gaige, where is your science fair project?"

Gaige fumbled for a moment and replied, "Uh, uh, my science fair project? It's right here," and she raised up her mechanical arm.

The judges looked at her quizzically. "Your prosthetic arm is your science fair project" another one of the judges asked her with an uninterested gaze

Gaige grinned confidently, "Oh no, my arm isn't my science fair project."

She turned away from the judges, extended her arm, and with a flick of her wrist, a gigantic metallic beast materialized into existence. The judges gasped in awe and Gaige knew she had their attention.

"I call him DeathTrap. He is the future of anti-bullying technology. With his digistructed claws and thermosonic lasers, he will track down bullying and beat the CRAP out of it!"

Gaige turned around and saw the judges eying up her mechanical creation. The looks on their faces made it very clear that they were thoroughly impressed.

The final judge asked, "Would you care to demonstrate the abilities of your, uh, DeathTrap?"

Gaige confidently stated, "Of course," and willed her creation to further dazzle her audience.

She won first place in the planet-wide science fair. Her and her creation were given matching blue ribbons and Gaige had to fight back tears of joy. She looked over to her sniveling rival classmate and contemplated rubbing her nose in it, but decided against it when her dad quickly ran up to her and gave her a big hug.

"You did it sweetheart! I knew you could do it!" he shouted, looking almost as excited as she was.

"Hell yes I did! I'm the greatest engineer alive!" Gaige shouted back, flexing her robotic arm.

Gaige's father laughed for a moment and said, "You know what this calls for, right?"

Gaige stopped to think for a moment and asked, "A party?"

"Hell yeah," he proclaimed loudly.

They exchanged a high five and quickly raced out of the school's auditorium to the car.

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Cupcakes and loud music filled the house. Everyone had a bright smile on their face. A bottle of wine was opened and a glass was poured for Gaige's mother and father. Gaige was content with a mug of hot cocoa. Occasionally, when her mother would leave the room, her dad would let Gaige have a small sip from his glass, and then they would return to how they were when she returned. Everything was perfect and nothing could possibly spoil their joy.

It was late and the merriment had significantly died down. Gaige decided that she would retire to her workshop in the garage for some peace and quiet. She was thoroughly exhausted and was ready to crash on the couch that she had placed in the corner of the room when her dad caught her dozing off at her desk one too many times. Gaige stood in the doorway and flicked on a light switch. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She stepped inside and looked a rather large blood stain on the floor.

Heh, good times.

She then looked at her desk where scraps of metal were sprawled out around a conspicuously placed ECHO recorder. That's odd, she couldn't recall leaving her ECHO behind. She stepped closer and picked up the recorder. It was crisp and clean and state of the art. She looked at it closer and noticed that it contained a message from a man whom she didn't know by the name of Blake. She hit the play button and listened to its contents.

"Miss Gaige, we at the Hyperion Corporation were so impressed by your DeathTrap, that we would like to invite you to our branch on Pandora to become our head engineer."

Gaige stood in shock and awe. This night just kept getting better and better.

"Your shuttle has already been paid for and you will be departing from your home in Eden-5 in a week. We sincerely recommend that you consider our offer and join the Hyperion family. "

The tape ended there. Gaige's mind ran wild with excited thoughts and she squealed to herself while jumping up and down. The commotion caught the attention of her father who quickly walked to the doorway.

"What's up? What's got you so excited," he asked with a puzzled look on his face.

She turned to face him and squealed, "Dad, you're never going to believe this."

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed my first chapter. I really enjoyed writing this fic. I won't update on any sort of regular basis, but I do plan on finishing this story. Please leave a review and keep following the story to the end.**


	2. Departure

Gaige, her mother, and her father stand in the middle of the space port lobby. She has her two large suitcases by her side and it is clear that she is ready to catch her ship. She looks at her father who has a stream of tears running down his cheeks and a smile on his face. Why did "goodbye" have to be so hard? Gaige walked away from her luggage and approached to him and wrapped her arms around his waist in an embrace.

"I love you daddy," she whispered, finding it increasingly harder to find the volume she needed as tears began to flow to her eyes and a lump rose in her throat.

"I love you too, sweetheart," he whispered back, wrapping his arms around her. "You have fun out there on Pandora. Do your best and be safe. We're so proud of you."

Gaige pulled back from the hug to look him in the eyes and she couldn't help but smile. "I know, daddy. I'll be the best damn engineer Hyperion has ever seen!"

"That's my girl," he commented. He gave her a kiss on the top of the head and released her from their embrace. Gaige then moved to her mother who was standing nearby. She walked up to her and gave her a hug too. It was shorter than the one she shared with her father though. As much as she loved her mother, she always felt a stronger bond with her dad. Gaige pulled away from the hug and looked her mother in the eyes. Her eyes were sad, but the smile on her face said that she was happy for her.

"I love you, mom," Gaige said.

"I love you too, Gaige," her mother replied.

Gaige returned to her luggage and looked at both of her parents. Nobody wanted to say goodbye, so Gaige mumbled, "I'll see you later," and left without another word. Damn it, why did "goodbye" have to be so hard?

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She looked around for her ship. There were so many that it was hard to tell which one was going where. And the massive crowds of people didn't help either. The loud noises of chatter made it impossible to think. The lack of space made it difficult to move around those who were shoving one another just to make space for themselves. Gaige maneuvered her way through the crowd until she spotted strange looking line particularly devoid of people. Gaige curiously approached the woman standing at the terminal. The attendant looked tired and bored as though she hadn't interacted with a single person the whole day. Her eyes wandered across the room, searching for something, anything to entertain her. When her eyes landed on Gaige, they narrowed and glared at her intently.

"Kid, this ain't your flight. This one goes to Pandora and you don't belong in a place like that," the grouchy attendant growled. Gaige was taken aback by her remark.

"As a matter of fact, I have a ticket to board this ship," Gaige snarled back at the attendant, who continued to watch her.

"Is that so?" the attendant said in a sarcastic and unamused tone.

Gaige slapped her ticket onto the attendant's counter and she looked at it. A suspicious look crossed her face as she examined the ticket. She then gave Gaige a disgusted look and allowed her to board the ship without any further questioning. Gaige proceeded without a second thought and blamed that horrid interaction with the attendant on a bad day or something. No big deal. Not her problem.

When Gaige set foot on the ship, the first thing she noticed was the distinct lack of people. Not a single seat was taken. Gaige smiled to herself. She could have literally any seat she wanted on the ship. Gaige hopped from seat to seat until she found one she wanted. After finding her seat, she made herself comfortable. She propped her feet up on the seat in front of her and reclined backwards. Gaige sighed in relaxation. Suddenly, a robotic like voice played over the intercom. "The trans-planetary shuttle is now leaving the port. Please buckle your seat belts," it droned. Gaige ignored the message and sighed again. She was the only passenger on a 12 hour flight. She looked up at the ceiling of the shuttle and recalled the prior week with a sad sigh.

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Gaige was so excited when she got that ECHO from Hyperion that she could not sleep that night. She held it in her hands and played it over and over to herself. Gaige giggled and squealed because she still could not believe that this was happening. She was going to go to Pandora and work for the Hyperion Corporation. Well, once she ran it past her parents and got their approval. She already told her dad but it was evident that he was tired and wanted to go to bed. She told him the news and they agreed that they would discuss it in the morning. But morning would not arrive fast enough.

When morning did finally arrive, Gaige eagerly sat at the breakfast table, watching her mother walk slowly towards her. Her hair was still messy. Her eyes were half closed. Her face was drowsy. She was not a morning person. She made her way to the coffee maker which Gaige kindly filled to the brim for this very occasion. The still sleepy mother opens the nearby cabinet and stares sleepily at the wide array of mugs she could choose from. Slowly she reaches for a white mug that reads "I hate Mondays" and gently sets it on the counter. She reaches for the pot of coffee and fills it half way. The pot is returned to its former position on the coffee maker and Gagie's mother reaches into the fridge and removes the milk. Another fourth of the mug is filled with the milk and it is returned to the cold confines of the fridge. Finally Gaige's mother sits at the table and searches for the small bowl of sugar that is supposed to be on the table in the morning. Quickly, Gaige slides the bowl to her mother and she expresses her gratitude with a small smile. She reaches for a spoon and dips it into the sugar. Gaige watches in anticipation as her mother lifts the spoon full of sugar over her mug and slowly allows the contents to roll off of the utensil and lightly land on the surface of the hot beverage. As the small grains of sugar begin to dissolve into the mug, she dips her spoon into the coffee and spins it around and around. The beverage, once black, transforms into a creamy brown as the contents blend together. Gaige feels like she is about to scream. She can't hold her excitement much longer. Finally, her mother removes the spoon from the mug and she slowly lifts it to her lips. She gently blows on the surface of the coffee and presses it to her lips. After a long sip, she places the mug onto the table and hears the sound of footsteps coming from down the hall. Emerging from the hallway is Gaige's slightly more awake looking father who opts out of coffee to sit by his wife's side at the table. They both look at Gaige who looks like she's about to explode.

Her father chuckles lightly and her mother asks "What's up sweetie?"

Gaige loudly blurts out, "OMG! Hyperion wants me to be their top engineer at their newest branch on Pandora!"

Her mother's eyes widen in shock and surprise. She looks over to her husband and sees that he has a grin spread across his lips.

"Woah, Pandora?," she asks her over excited daughter.

"Yeah, why?," Gaige replies.

"Isn't that the place being occupied by the Hyperion Corporation?," her mother asks with concern and confusion in her voice.

Gaige stopped to think for a moment. It had never really crossed her mind since Professor Parker's Uni-Politics class. Gaige was against the Hyperion Occupation of Pandora, but this was too huge of an opportunity to pass up.

While Gaige was thinking to herself, her mother asked her another question, "What do you know about Pandora anyway?"

This was a considerably easier question to manage. Gaige replied, "Well, other than that it's rich with Eridium and may potentially house another Vault, next to nothing. But hey, that's what the ECHOnet is for! I'll do some research!"

And after breakfast, that is exactly what she did. She researched Pandora all day. Unfortunately, all of the information provided on Pandora was filtered by Hyperion. They had complete control over Pandora and it was plain to see. But from what she saw, grass, sand, research facilities, and technology, Pandora didn't look so bad. There was even a huge city in development that looked like a paradise. Gaige didn't understand why the planet had such a bad reputation. Oh well.

The next matter of discussion was Gaige's education. She could not just drop out of school, could she? Her parents discussed it for a while. Her mother said that she should complete high school and go to college. Her father argued that she already has a job at Hyperion and that she was already smarter than any college student and would probably end up teaching the professor a thing or two. They debated for a while until it was finally agreed upon that she would be allowed to drop out of high school and become the greatest engineer in one of the most prestigious companies in the six galaxies.

The ticket for her shuttle arrived in the mail on Wednesday. It was as if Hyperion knew that she was going to say yes. Perhaps they knew that they were giving her an offer that she could not refuse. It didn't raise any red flags around the house, so nobody paid the gesture any mind.

Finally, the day of her departure arrived. Gaige scrambled through her room to make sure that she had packed all of her clothes in her storage deck suitcase and she quickly dashed to her workshop to make sure that all of her favorite tools were packed into another. Meanwhile, a sad feeling started culminating inside of her. Leaving her family and home behind was not a happy thought. She started having second thoughts and doubts. She paused in her tracks and considered canceling her trip.

Her dad, sensing her distress, places a hand on her shoulder and reassures her, "Hey, it's going to be alright. Just promise to send us an ECHO every now and again." Gaige smiled and giggled, regaining her confidence in herself and feeling a bit better.

With everything now packed, everyone walks out the door to the car. Gaige's dad takes the driver's seat, her mom takes the passenger seat, and Gaige sits behind her. Nobody wanted to say anything, so the ride to the space port was dead silent. Even when they pulled into the busy parking lot, all was quiet and still. Nobody dared to move from their seats.

Finally, the silence was broken by Gaige who mumbled, "We should probably go in..." Everyone mumbled in agreement and slowly steps out of the car.

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Gaige sighs and shifts in her seat on the shuttle. She is on a shuttle heading to a whole other planet. She looks at the clock on her ECHO device. Only three hours have passed. Gaige wondered to herself how long this trip was. She recalled it being a twelve hour flight. This was going to be a long and lonely ride to Pandora.


End file.
